Marth bent his knees to pad his fall as much as possible, landing on the slope. He scanned the area for Link and Ganondorf, but they were nowhere to be seen. Leaping off of the slope and onto the lower ground, he scanned the area again. He turned and saw Ganondorf clashing swords with Link, Link teetering on the edge, ready to fall. "Ganondorf!" Marth called out. Ganondorf didn't look back, but loosened his force.
"What?!" He growled angrily back. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of something!?"
"Yes, I can. And you shouldn't be! This is a battle for Link and I to settle. A rematch. Stop and let me fight him." Marth said.
"You talk like a sissy!" Link shouted, for the heck of it.
"I am about to succeed…don't break my concentration…" Ganondorf said through gritted teeth.
"Ganondorf…move." Marth said, readying his sword, but Ganondorf couldn't see that.
"No, you puny human!" Ganondorf yelled back.
"What makes you think you're any more human than I am?" Marth whispered, walking up to the ledge, right behind Ganondorf, who was nearly finished pushing Link down off of the tiny, lone, white, platform. Marth took hold of Ganondorf's swaying cape and tugged on it, making him fall backward.
"What are you doing?!" Ganondorf snarled as Marth pulled on his cape some more, then letting him swing between the ground where Marth was standing, and the tiny platform where Link was regaining balance, only held up by Marth's strong grip.
"If you do not agree to let Link and me settle this battle, I will let you fall, and you will fail. If you wish to live and keep your reputation for this first battle, promise me you will not interfere." Marth said, kneeling on one knee, making Ganondorf lower ever so slightly.
"Ugh!" Ganondorf said, his face going red with anger.
"Promise." Marth said, reminded Link highly of his childhood days when he used to make Princess Zelda promise she'd always love him.
"Fine! Fine, fine, fine! Get me up!" Ganondorf said, finally taking into consideration that this was his first battle, and being betrayed by his own ally would ruin his reputation he'd been hoping to keep for the rest of the year.
Marth helped him up, a slight grin coming to his face. Ganondorf moved away, and then hopped up on the slope.
"I supposed you're wanting me to thank you for not letting me lose." Link said smugly, finding at least one thing to snap at Marth with.
"No." Said Marth shortly, backing up to give Link some room to move forward.
Link didn't reply, but cautiously jumped over to the ground Marth was on, readying his NEW sword. "I'm not going to lose this time." He said quietly.
Marth sighed very quietly and switched his stance so the tip of his sword was touching the ground, lightly slanted. His other hand was barely touching the end of the hilt, ready to grab at any time.
"You've got some fancy looks, there, boy." Link said, holding his sword out to the side, as usual.
"They are called stances." Marth replied, waiting for Link's attack. "This particular one is called a defensive stance."
"Do you think I care?" Asked Link, lunging at Marth with all his might, only to be deflected immediately.
"If I hadn't warned you, you probably would've thrown yourself at me the wrong way and gotten seriously damaged." Marth said, knowing that Link had taken his useful tip into consideration.
"I went that way because I knew how you'd react already!" Link lied, trying to sound as smart…and well… arrogant as possible.
Marth nodded even though he knew Link was lying. It was obvious. "Try again." He said tranquilly.
'What's your weakness?' Link wondered, taking a simple forward slash, deflected by Marth. He made a standard side slash to Marth's left arm. 'That's not it…he's too fast.' He thought to himself. He tried for the legs, but Marth warded him off just the same. Link jumped back and studied Marth. 'He has to have SOME weakness! Everyone does…of course!' It snapped in him. Link swung as fast and hard as he could for Marth's right arm. "That's it! Your right arm!" Link shouted with absolute satisfaction.
"What are you talking about?" Marth asked, getting back into the defensive stance after warding away Link's last attack.
"Your right arm! That's your weakness! With that "defensive stance" of yours, you are able to block every one of my attacks with God-like speed, all except your right arm. You can still defend it, but you are slower to do so since you need to bring your sword in an odd angle." Link explained, a triumphant grin coming across his lips.
"So you observed…I didn't expect that from you." Marth said, switching his stance. This time his feet were apart, he held his sword hilt in his left hand, and barely clutched the tip with his right, while holding it horizontal, level with his face.
Link threw every swing he could at Marth, but Marth was still to fast for him. Marth did a side slash down at Link in a possible moment, but Link was fortunate enough to hold up his shield in time, but had the displeasure of receiving a very large dent in the side of it. After many swings of each sword, the both of them were panting in fatigue, but Link had an idea…stepping back, he drew a small, tan, cylinder shaped, container from his tunic, and grinned wildly. "These are small, but strong pineapple bombs! I received them from a friend in my hometown that sold me the larger bombs I carry. But why am I telling you? You won't even remember in a few seconds…"
Marth backed away. He had no shield…all he had was a sword, a cape, and some armor that only blocked minor blade cuts.
Link hastily knelt and put down his shield, placing the pineapple bomb on top, he slashed his sword beside the wick, creating a spark from the two metals. The bomb's wick began to spew sparks and was shrinking quickly. Link stood up, wound up his arm and threw it as hard as he could at the perplexed Marth.
Marth thought as fast as he could, then swung his sword and closed his eyes, hoping his last second thought would work…and it did. His sword had cut the tip of the fuse off, leaving the pineapple bomb to plop down to the ground, looking unused.
Link gaped, unable to think for a while…then shouted at the top of his lungs, "WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE?!" He quickly picked up his sword and charged at Marth, swinging his sword frantically, thinking of nothing but killing Marth. His thoughts stopped abruptly as a searing pain shook his body. He fell to his knees and looked down, wondering what had made the pain.
"I wish I hadn't had to do that…but I dare say that you were being rather reckless. I intend that neither of us should die, and if worst comes to worst, the most will be high damage." Marth said in a low tone, retrieving his sword from Link's thigh. Blood had already soaked almost Link's entire body from the cut down. His tights were no longer pure white; neither were they smelling like Zelda. Marth was about to help Link up, but heard a cry from overhead. He unbuttoned his cape and tossed it to Link, "Use that. Call for whoever uses healing magic…something's wrong."
"Hahahaha! At last! Your TriForce piece is mine and I can kill you…" Ganondorf's voice came from above.
"Let me go! Let me go!!!" Zelda's voice screeched from above as well.
"Ganondorf! Let her go!" Marth called, jumping up to the platform where Ganondorf was holding Zelda by the collar of her dress (She'd changed back.).
Ganondorf stopped laughing maliciously and turned his head back to look at Marth, "You again!"
"Let her go, I said!" Marth repeated.
"Why should I?! You don't have a score to settle with her!" Ganondorf growled.
"We didn't even need a team battle. You should not have come, because I did not need your presence while fighting Link once more, and Princess Zelda should not have been here…she could have been seriously hurt." Marth said, taking a few steps forward.
"That is the entire point of a battle! To fight! To kill! To win!!" Ganondorf roared at Marth.
"Not to kill, yes to fight, but not to kill. Now put her down gently or I will have to deal with you, myself." Marth threatened, a droplet of sweat running down the side of his face.
"You can't hurt me, I am on your side!" Ganondorf retorted.
"Not if you do not put the Princess down." Marth said, tapping his sword on the ground as a tip-off.
Ganondorf threw Zelda a few feet away, making her twinge in pain as she fell onto the hard ground. "You have made me lose my greatest possession that I have been waiting to gain my entire life…"
"The Princess's life!?" Marth shouted.
"Not only that, but the sacred TriForce piece! It could make me ruler over the Kingdom of Hyrule and you have just made me lose it…" Ganondorf growled, his fists shaking with anger.
"Is he really that intimidating, Ganon?!" Zelda shouted from behind him.
"Shut up, girl!" Ganondorf said, backhanding her as hard as he could, making her fly yet another few feet.
Zelda looked up, and was surprised to see that Ganondorf was on his knees, his eyes rolled back into the back of his head, a blade shining with blood jutting from his upper shoulder.
"I suggest you don't do that again." Marth said pointedly at Ganondorf. He placed his left foot on Ganondorf's back, pulling out his blade. He hit Ganondorf over the head with his sword hilt, making him fall forward, flat on his face.
"Is he…dead?" Zelda asked cautiously.
"No, just knocked out…from pain I'm guessing, but definitely not dead. I don't kill…" Marth said, stepping over the unconscious body, then held out a hand to Zelda, helping her up.
Zelda was in the lead, walking down the slope to see what happened to Link. Hopping down to the lower ground, she gasped and took a few steps backward, knocking into Marth.
"Oh! Excuse me, milady." Marth said, taking a few steps back as well so she wouldn't knock into him again. "And…forgive me. I had no other choice unless I wanted to be beheaded." He said with a slight warm chuckle, looking at Zelda's terrified face.
Link was lying on his face as well, Marth's cape half tied around his thigh. Apparently he'd fainted from loss of blood halfway through securing the cape.
"You…" Zelda said, turning to Marth. She looked as though she was ready to kill, but all she did was bang her fists repeatedly on Marth's chest armor.
"I'm sorry, Princess. It was my only choice. He should be fine…what can't a little healing magic do?" Marth said, a comforting smile parting his lips.
Zelda continued to beat on Marth's chest armor, then collapsed, sobbing at Marth's feet.
Marth knelt down beside her and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "How about we call this a draw?" He asked, no ill will about his voice.
